rain on metal, a mormor ficlet
by abberant-albert
Summary: Post-Reichenbach. It's a few months after "The fall" and Seb accompanies Jim on their last mission/job they would spend together. Tons of angst. Really drabbly, so ignore all the crap.


He saw it.  
He saw the abrupt, precise pause, those fierce bambi eyes, not even breaking a sweat and turning jubilantly to face the policemen, flinging open his arms and grinning, baring white teeth like a mad dog. Sebastian did not cry out. He stood his ground, watching through the pinhole view of his rifle. It hadn't been a complicated mission, but Jim had been getting riskier as the hours slipped by, not his usual self.

Sebastian's head went blank.

_Fucking hell. That was your best suit, you sodding idiot-_  
_oh-_  
_oh no no no no no._  
Blood bloomed like red roses. Two shots. Jim fell backwards, elegantly, like he had timed the whole thing to make it look beautiful. The men turned, baffled, and shouted to their companions. The rifleman was faster, of course. He pulled the trigger faster than a heartbeat, killing off both of them and occupying the rest who were running up the south hill with the corpses of their friends.  
He slid off his perch, cocked his weapon hurriedly, and ran around the bend of the water tower he had made his post at, the England rain pouring down and flattening his hair to his forehead and neck. He slipped but happened to stumble into a gully, which he bent down in carefully, waiting until the coast was clear. He heard sirens and shouts of alarm soon enough, and he would've smirked if his heart wasn't beating so fast.  
Jim.  
The name was whispered off of his tongue urgently with every pounding in his chest, hands trembling to climb up the rock face, scraping his knuckles and arms. He walked a little farther, bending down and feeling the grass. Tracking. He felt where dirty oxfords had made prints, missing steps once or twice, where blood sunk into the soil. The rain was distorting everything.  
He looked up. A set of tracks weaved into a railway tunnel of layered tin and stone. Sharp eyes and ears were an advantage. He stood and sprinted on the beams, peering into the half-darkness.  
His boss sat on a bench shoved aggressively against the metal of the wall, half-sprawled, shoulders hunched. His head hung loosely and his breathing echoed, a listless, rust-like sound, heaving from his throat with effort at every exhale and inhale and exhale.  
"Jim." Sebastian choked out after standing cautiously, letting the scene sink in before stumbling forward in a lunge, dropping to his knees before gaining a steady momentum and holding the man's frail shoulders in his hands. "Jim? Oh my god. Jim." He repeated tremblingly, and he got a reaction, his boss's head lifting just barely and his eyes opening. Jim smiled briefly, breath rattling, pale lips caked with blood.  
"The rain. D' you hear it? Beautiful, isn't it. Like...bullets." He spoke in an uneven tone, head inclining again. Sebastian caught it heavily, grazing Jim's cheek with his callused palm. Jim's skin was livid and cold.  
"What the hell are you going on about? You're freezing. Jesus, Jim." He shed off his own coat, draping it around the man loosely. Jim was keeping an arm clamped over his midsection, which was already drenched with red. Sebastian noted the rapid bleeding and paled, sliding a hand over the boss's arm. "You're- get your arm away. I'm gonna stop the bleeding, alright? Just keep still..." His voice dropped to a husky mutter, ripping cloth away from his own garment and pressing steadily. Jim's hand, manicured and soft, made its way up Sebastian's neck before gripping skin in evident pain.  
"Don't. Sebastian." He hissed, tilting his head down to meet inches away from the rifleman's. He only trembled, hands working to pressurise Jim's wounds, to stop the flow of wine-red staining whatever it touched.  
"Don't be stupid. It's not gonna heal itself. You're gonna be f-"  
Jim trailed a finger across Seb's lips, snagging it gently on his nail. Playfully.  
"Kiss me."  
Sebastian shook his head, a sheen of sweat forming on his forehead. "Jim-"  
He didn't have time to react before the madman bent down and met his lips, violently, even, turning his head to the side and just melting into him, breathing hitching and shuddering and his long eyelashes fluttering against Sebastian's face.  
The rifleman pulled away clumsily, crying out in protest.  
"What the hell, Jim?! If you keep this up, you're going to die-"  
"I know." Jim retorted quietly, suddenly sliding forward on his own blood. Sebastian caught him by the shoulders tightly, staring him in the face urgently.  
"You can't do this." He softened his tone, eyes glittering. "Even though he's gone, al'ight? You can't just give up like that." He mentioned the coated detective with a subtle he. He had dropped from a building to his death many months ago, Jim finding a way out of the situation, surviving but becoming listless and half-crazed. He wasn't quite the same after "the fall", Sebastian always noticed. Jim didn't respond to the sentence, and was taken abruptly with seizing, his entire body ravaged with convulsions. Sebastian steadied him, holding him, running a hand through his gelled brown hair and gripping a hand to the bullet wounds again. "Oh god. C'mon. Jim? You're okay. You're okay..." the mastermind slipped out of it after only a few seconds, eyes dulling with pain and gasping for breath.  
"S-Ssseb." He gasped, fingers twisting into Sebastian's leather jacket, clinging to him with the desperation of a small child. "I can't stay. Can't. 'S...Too late. Too much blood." He smiled again falteringly, eyelids fluttering, as if he was feigning off sleep.  
"No. No, don't say that. Jim, talk to me." Sebastian's voice cracked, and before he could stop himself, the tears came, mingling with the red smeared on his face and stinging his eyes. Jim just gazed at him, raising both hands to his neck and spreading his fingers comfortingly. He murmured and cooed Sebastian's name over and over again through slurred speech, like he had done a million times beforehand after sex or late into the night after a long workday. Sebastian only knelt, cradling Jim, sobbing. He couldn't bear to see Jim like this. The man who he depended on to live, life ebbing out of him. He almost expected it; Jim had always been suicidal. He warned Sebastian of his wild flings, unafraid of his demise at each twist or turn. But Sebastian could never picture him dead. He always managed to get out of every situation without fail. The rifleman's denial began to crack as Jim's breath began to gradually slow, chest barely rising and falling. He sounded like a shot deer.  
"Hey. How about we go home, after you're patched up, right? We can share a coffee, or somthen' like that. Just like usual, alright?" Seb whispered. Jim nodded once, lips twitching at a little grin. Sebastian laughed to cut into the unruly silence, but it lapsed back into a sob again. Jim's hands began to slip off of him. Sebastian caught his arm before it fell to the ground, pressing his hand to his face again and entwining his fingers with the other man's tersely. His boss mumbled something in the softest voice, the sound dying in his throat. Sebastian bent down so their foreheads almost touched.  
"I love you." Jim made out, almost mouthing the words. Air left his chest in one last raspy sigh, eyelids fluttering and brown eyes stilling in their sockets. Seb blinked, the tears blurring his vision, his chest tightening. He dragged his hand over the boss's eyes, letting them shut.  
"Yeah. I know it, Jim."


End file.
